Face to face with Our Fold

Our Fold have been honing their fuelled kind of indie rock music since the band’s inception in 2005. Led by incredible drive and fire, their sound is infectious, intoxicating and memorable. Our Fold’s talent, supported by the word of mouth, took them to the stages with the likes of Kasabian, The Coral, The Prodigy and of Reading & Leeds and Glastonbury festivals among the rest. Recently the collective have released their new single ‘Dive?’ and there’s more to come… Curious? Read on to what vocalist and guitarist Damien Riley has to say. Time to get excited.

– Your debut single ‘Dive?’ is out. Could you share the story behind this track? How was it born?

– “Dive? was born on the train from Westhoughton to Manchester. It`s song about Manchester, our adopted City. I liked The Doors`idea of treating the City like a woman so the song comes across as quite sexual lyrically but it`s just a smokescreen for being within the city itself.

– How does the b-side ‘Crashing Down’ complement ‘Dive?’. Why did you choose this particular track as a b-side?

– ‘Crashing Down’ is one of the oldest songs we have and the first song we ever performed live. So the contrast of a relatively new song and a proper oldie appealed to us. I think they work nicely together. ‘Crashing Down’ is definitely reaching out to the baggy era, has a certain swagger.

– When can we expect your debut album release?

– The album is being mixed as we speak, the last track to do was recorded last week and sounding lovely! We`re hoping to set a date soon, probably Summer time.

– Out Fold have been together since 2005. What role in creative process does being a band for a long time play?

– The creative process has always stayed the same for us, we`ve just got much tighter over the years. I usually bring a song to rehearsals or an idea, or we`ll jam and I`ll sing complete bollocks over it just to nail the melody. If there`s some words that keeps repeating within the bollocks, they usually end up staying in the song. The song `Teriffic` which will be on the album was all a complete improvision lyrically and I didn`t change one word on the studio version.

– What events/achievements do you consider to be special highlights in Our Fold’s career?

– A big highlight was being chosen to play Hove Festival in Norway! On the same bill as Florence and The Machine & Them Crooked Vultures. We met Dave Grohl who was a complete legend as you`d expect, and he stayed with us for about half an hour talking about music and belt buckles. Ryan our drummer swapped belts with him and I`m sure he goes to bed with it on.

– You’ve played with the likes of Kasabian, Florence and the Machine and The Fratellis. How did these performances help you evolve as a live band?

– It makes you realise the standard you need to be at to have a chance of breaking through. It makes you concentrate more at rehearsals and get a bit serious about it. The difference it made to us was huge, before the high profile support slots we`d play absolutely smashed! That all stopped after the decent support slots started coming. I suppose it`s the sense of belief that others are putting in you too that makes you wanna be great live.

– Having played such festivals as Reading & Leeds, Glastonbury, what’s your main approach to making your festival appearances special?

– We usually rehearse like mad running up to a festival appearance and get the songs flowing faster and smoother into each other. It`s always in your mind that there are gonna be people there watching who haven`t heard of you before and you want to impress. The whole experience of a festival is just great being in a band. Having your mates with you all weekend, watching other bands and getting messy, it`s top. But I suppose equally, there`s nowt like a sweaty basement bar gig full of people swaying around in front of you. We`ve had quite a few effects pedal replacements because of stage invasions and beer spillages at these little packed gigs though!

– You’ve got various musical influences. What album and/or band do you consider to be especially meaningful, important in your life?

– Personally for me, the light came on as soon as I pressed play on ‘Nevermind’ by Nirvana. It was on a skiing holiday with school and we were going through the mountains on a coach. A lad behind me asked whether I`d heard it and passed me the tape. Listening to that album looking out over the snowy mountains changed my life. I was playing sax at the time and immediately asked my mam for a guitar when I got back and taught myself it.

– We`re hoping this year we can finally break through and it`ll be the year that we finally officially release an album! Hopefully get on some festivals and gig like mad all over to raise our profile. We gotta push ourselves this year and make it the best yet for us!